


At the End of the Day

by whiskers542



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Also I'm bad at titles, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-25 14:03:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6197887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiskers542/pseuds/whiskers542
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's all over.<br/>All the enemies defeated.<br/>All the goals achieved.<br/>All the battles won.<br/>Everyone was safe.<br/>Now just to finish the job.<br/>To create the new universe.<br/>It was time for everybody to go home.<br/>To continue with life.<br/>To be free again.<br/>To forget your allies and remember your friends.<br/>But, at the end of the day it's all just a memory.<br/>It's all over.<br/>Time to go home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is based on an rp I'm doing with a friend. Please feel free to give me constructive criticism on my writing, I'd love to get better and I know I'm not that great XD  
> Otherwise, thanks for reading :P  
> Will update soon!

_It was over._

_The game was won._

_The goodbyes had been said, hugs given, and promises made._

_Now it was time to go home._

_Four kids standing in the darkness of what was once a land called Skaia with a broken green house looming in front of them._

_The Witch of Space._

_The Heir of Breath._

_The Seer of Light._

_The Knight of Time._

_"It's time, guys." The Witch said softly._

_"I guess it is. John, you can do the honors." The Seer turned to the Heir and smiled. John took in a deep breath and floated forward, pressing his hand to the top left corner of the broken green house. The second his fingers touched the smooth surface a soft breeze whispered it's way through the land. The square turned blue._

_The Seer went next, pressing her hand to the square directly below John's. It turned orange._

_The Witch did the same however the Knight hesitated._

_"Will I see you guys again?" he croaked out. There was a pause before John spoke._

_"I don't know. But, Jade.. Rose, Dave. I'm never going to forget you," he smiled at his friends, "I promise that and maybe in the new universe we'll be friends. Now, Dave, come on. It's time to go home."_

_Dave nodded and floated up. His square was broken. It reminded him of home though. So, he gingerly pressed his hand against it._

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

     Everything was white… That's the last thing Dave saw, a bright blinding white light that blasted through Skaia, before he jumped awake on his bedroom floor. Wait-... His bedroom? Wasn’t he…? Maybe this was a dream bubble… He carefully stood up and looked around… This had to be a dream bubble, he was still wearing his god tier outfit. 

He sniffed and silently padded out of his room, the only noise being the soft hissing whisper his cape made as it glided across the floor, forever trailing behind the young Strider. He moved to the bathroom… The kitchen… Basically everywhere he was sure... he wouldn't be. That was until he reached the living room… He hesitated for about a minute before walking to the futon and-... Oh god… There he was…. Dave almost immediately tackled the man and burst into tears. 

"Bro! I'm sorry! It's my fault! I should have s-saved you," he yelled as he clung to his brother, "I’m so so so so fucking sorry! Please don’t leave me again!" he put his head up slightly and frantically searched Bro's face for any hint of any emotion. There was none. Bro was completely emotionless as per usual. 

_Please do something... Anything. Say something you stupid shit. Please..._

Dave was brought back to reality when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist.

"Ya didn't do anythin' wrong, lil man. And I ain't leavin' anytime soon. Promise." Bro said simply. Dave just continued staring at him with tears still dripping down his cheeks. They were soon wiped away though and the older Strider finally gave the slightest hint of an emotion. He smiled.

_He smiled._

The legendary Bro Strider just smiled, and no, it wasn't just a normal Strider smirk, no, it was a full on smile. 

Dave felt tears stinging his eyes again. His heart was so close to bursting out of his chest. Holy shit. 

"I missed you so much," he whispered, "I love you, Bro." he could barely hear himself so he was sure Bro wouldn't hear him. 

He didn't. 

Bro just went back to his casual poker face and leaned back again. He pulled Dave with him and the younger Strider pressed his face into Bro's chest, smiled, then closed his eyes for a well deserved nap with the sound of his brother's heartbeat thrumming in his ear as he drifted off.

He was free.

It was time to move on.

To forget the game.

And, for the first time in years, curled up in his brother's arms,

He was safe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;u; I'm too excited about nothing to not add another chapter way too fucking quick XD  
> ALSO  
> SHIT'S GONNA GET ANGSTY AS FUCK SOOn  
> DAVE IS ONE FUCKED UP KID  
> XD

_Dave stared at the body in pure horror._

_There was his Bro._

_Just laying there._

_With a sword through his chest._

_The young Strider fell to his knees and swallowed the bile rising in his throat. Holy shit._

_The one person he cared about most in the world._

_Dead._

_Gone._

_And he didn't even get to say goodbye..._

_This couldn't be happening..._

_Oh but it was._

_And Dave was horrified._

_He very carefully pulled his own sword out of his sylladex, brought it to his neck, and-_

_"Dave!"_

_..._

_"DAVE!"_

 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Dave awoke with a start, his eyes shooting open. 

"DAVE, WAKE UP!" Bro hissed.

"I-... I'm awake..." he whispered. His body was bathed in a thin sheet of sweat and his heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. 

"Dude, you were screamin' in your sleep. Scared th' shit outta me. Get a fuckin' grip, kid." Bro glared softly but couldn't hold it. He just ended up pulling Dave close and murmuring soft things in his ear while Dave practically hyperventilated. He got his shit together pretty quickly.

He needed to get that shit out of his head. "S-sorry, Bro. I'm fine I swear... What time is it?"

"Three-thirty."

"Holy shit, are you serious? Morning or afternoon?"

"Mornin'."

"Wow, sorry to wake you." Dave chuckled nervously and leaned against Bro. 

"Don' worry 'bout it, kid. Wanna tell me what had ya so scared?"

"Not particularly. Can we just like... Snuggle and watch a shitty movie or something? I mean o-only if yo-"

"Sure." Bro shrugged and set Dave down. 

_Okay what the fuck..._

Dave pushed the thought away and decided to just accept it. Bro was being nice. So, who cares? He smiled slightly when Bro came back and flopped next to him. "I put in the shittiest movie we got."

"And that would be?" Dave chuckled and curled himself into his brother's side. 

"A-Team."

"Bro, the A-Team is the opposite of shitty."

"Pfft, whatever ya say, Davey." 

Dave grinned innocently but froze when Bro pressed a kiss to the top of his head. There was a warmth that spread through his body from the spot and he had no idea what the fuck it was. It made him shudder though which made Bro give him a "What the fuck" look. The younger Strider was thinking the exact same thing. He soon shrugged it off though and turned his attention back to the movie. 

It was barely 20 minutes later when he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Bro just took his shades and set them on the coffee table. He sighed and ran his fingers through Dave's hair. 

The kid was safe.

That's all that mattered to him.

Everything else was unimportant and irrelevant.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy wow!  
> I feel popular  
> ;u;  
> ANYWAY NEXT CHAPTER IS GONNA BE FROM BRO'S POV PROMISE

_It was hot._

_The Knight's body was done._

_His mind was tired._

_He was just about to give up._

_Let go._

_Be defeated._

_He did._

_He dropped his sword and cried out in pain as a pair of blades went through his front and back._

_He fell to the ground on top of the Witch and everything went black._

_He was just about to let go and die for good._

_Something was tugging him away from his freedom though._

_Guilt._

_Regret._

_Fear._

_He needed to finish this game._

_He couldn't let humanity down._

_Sure, he wasn't a hero._

_But that didn't mean he couldn't become one._

_Finally he let himself be dragged back into consciousness..._

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

_What._

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Dave's eyes slowly cracked open and he immediately went for the offending object disturbing him from his rest. Soon he found his hand on his brother's face. He looked up and glared at him.

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"

The Knight just growled and booped his nose, making Bro shut his damn face. 

"I hate you."

"You love me~"

"Go to hell."

"I'll meetcha there, Davey."

"Fuck," Dave sighed and groped around for his shades which he soon found on the coffee table. "Mmm... Why'd you wake me up? What time is it?"

"Six-thirty."

"Jesus! Why the fuck did you wake me up at  _six fucking thirty_ in the morning!"

"Because I'm forcin' ya ta go ta school."

" _What?!_ Bro, I thought you were cool!"

"I am. I just wantcha ta do yer senior year."

"Jes-... Ugh..." Dave groaned and stood up. "Do I even have any clothes that fit besides my god tier?" 

"Pr'bably not."

"Fucki- I'm done." he growled as he walked to his room and flopped on his bed. "Wake me up when you're not being a loser!"

"Dave."

"Nope!"

"Roof."

"Okay! Okay, jeez, I'm getting up, calm down!" he stood up again and grabbed a pencil and some paper, shoving it in a bag. "There, drive my ass."

"Nope. You gotta walk, kiddo."

"FUCK! Why must you plague my life?!"

"Because. Now get movin' or yer gonna be late."

Dave grumbled and stomped towards the door. He mumbled a few 'fuck my life's and some other things as he slammed the door and started walking down the stairs.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

It was around 7:20 when he got there, grabbed his schedule, and plopped his ass down in a chair without talking to anybody. The school looked like shit. It probably was shit. But who was he to complain? It was Texas after all. Anyway, he was jolted from his thoughts by someone shaking him.

"ASSLICKER."

"Dude, no need to yell, calm down."

"DAVE."

"How do you know my na-" Dave turned around and blinked at the person behind him. He was a relatively short kid, unruly dark brown hair, tan skin... The thing that really caught his attention though were the bright red eyes on the kid. His clothes were interesting too, consisting of a black turtle neck, black jeans, and black shoes, but none of that was interesting to Dave at the moment. "Do I know you?"

"YES. I'LL GIVE YOU A HINT SINCE YOUR UNFATHOMABLY SMALL MIND CAN'T EVEN SEEM TO COMPREHEND WHAT THE FUCK IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. MY NAME IS KARKA-"

" _Karkat?!_ "

"NICE JOB, FUCKTARD. A FOR EFFORT."

"Holy shit! What are you doing in Texas?"

"I GOT SENT HERE AFTER THE GAME ENDED."

"That makes sense."

Karkat opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the bell ringing. He just growled and flopped in his seat while Dave turned back to the front of the room.

Maybe this school wasn't so bad after all.

Just maybe.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO  
> LIKE I PROMISED  
> DIS ONE IS FROM BRO'S POV  
> -WARNING-  
> SEXUAL BULLSHIT

The second Dave was out the door Bro flopped down on the futon again and sighed. Time to get a nap. 

He'd just gotten comfortable when he realized he had a little problem. 

_Oh great. Of course you'd get a boner. Awesome._

He sat up with a groan. Fucking great. Now he actually had to get up. He sat there for a few minutes before just getting up and making his way towards the bathroom. First jerk in the new universe I guess. He shrugged it off and set his shades and hat on the sink, staring at himself in the mirror with a grin.

"If it was a crime to look this good, I'd be in prison for the rest of my life..." he hissed smugly and narrowed his golden eyes. He pulled his polo off and wiggled out of his jeans and boxers. He let out a sigh of relief as his erection was freed. He stepped into the shower (after removing the puppet of course) and closed the stall. Time to get his jerk on. He loosely gripped the base of his cock and took it nice and slow. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about an hour when he'd stepped out of the shower with a towel around his waist. He casually walked to his room and grabbed some clean clothes, making extra sure he popped the collar on his polo just to be a douche. He made his way back to the bathroom to deal with his atrocious hair. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was another fuckin' hour when he finally came out with his hat and shades on. 

_Now to get on with my day._

He grabbed his keys and wallet before flashstepping out of the apartment and down to the parking lot. The kid better fucking enjoy this. Bro was putting so much effort into it. He shook his head and backed out of his usual spot. Of course, he just careened into traffic with his huge ass truck. He's not exactly the safest driver. Never was. Hell, nobody even knew if he had a license. He didn't. It got taken away a while ago. He didn't care though. He had places to be, people to meet, ~~dicks to suc- What? You didn't hear anything.~~  

He got to the mall pretty quickly and stole some other guys spot. Making his point by flipping the guy off, he stepped out of his truck and slammed the door shut. 

_Now to make my way through the basic bitches and drug addicts... Fuck. Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah. Dave._

He glared back towards the apartment even though he knew Dave didn't fucking care. Or know. It was the thought that counted, right? He put on a poker face and flashstepped to the entrance.

_Fucking hell. This was a terrible idea..._

He kept his cool as he strode into the nearest electronic store and bought his shit.

This was gonna be a long ass trip. Expensive too.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Bro frantically rushed up to the apartment and shoved his key into the lock. 

_Hurry, the kid is gonna be home any minute..._

He quickly wrapped up the shit in red paper and threw it down on the table then ran to the bag and pulled out a cake. He put that on the table too. 

Red velvet.

Dave's favorite.

He smirked and dashed to the kid's room, quickly got the speakers and turntables installed, sprinted back to the futon, kicked his shoes off, and flopped on the piece of furniture just as the door opened.

"Bro, I'm hom- what's this?"

"What're ya askin' 'bout, kid?" Bro sat up and looked at Dave with a poker face. 

"Bro, did you seriously do this?"

"Maybe. If yer referrin' to tha shit on tha table, then yeah, I did this."

"Dude..."

"Happy hell late birthday, kiddo, times 4. Hopefully 'is makes up fer tha ones I missed." Bro stood up but was immediately clung to by Dave.

"Thank you..."

"Yeah, yeah, now go open that shit."

 _That trip to the mall was totally worth it._  

He'd do anything for his little brother.

As long as Dave was happy, Bro was happy.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe sorry for the late shit  
> Also sorry for the short chapter  
> Next one will be longer!

Dave had gotten a brand new set of turntables (Which he freaked the fuck out about), a new computer, a laptop, a new phone, a new set of headphones, and a bunch of other stuff. None of that really mattered to him though, what mattered to him was the fact that he got to spend his fake birthday with his brother. 

\---

Now, he was curled up in his brother's lap on the futon with a small smile on his face. "Thanks, Bro. This meant so fucking much to me."

"I know, kiddo." Bro rubbed his thumb over Dave's knuckles. The last time they sat together like this, Dave was only 7. 

He'd fucked up so bad. 

And he felt bad about it. 

That's why he was gonna do what he could to fix his relationship with the kid. 

He really did love him. 

He loved him  _so much._

He was just never good with emotions, hence the reason he'd taken to being completely emotionless. 

It ran in the Strider family. 

His parents, who were killed in a car accident when he was 17, weren't good with anything, really. 

He learned all of his parenting skills from them.

Anyway, it was just when he was about to fall asleep that he felt Dave take his shades and hat. 

"Kid, give 'em back."

"Nope!" 

"Dave."

"Not happening."

"1."

"I'm 17."

"2."

"Fuck you."

"Fine." Bro glared at Dave who just pouted and stuck his tongue out. The older Strider couldn't stay mad, because holy shit, that's just too cute. "Stop that."

"No." Dave leaned up and kissed his brother's nose. Bro's face flushed a light pink and he just glared yet again.

"You're startin' to get on my nerves."

"Oooooohhhhhh noooo! Big bad Bro is gonna get maaad, is he?" The Knight squeaked when Bro disappeared. Though when a note was taped to his forehead, all the color drained from his face.

 _Strife._  
_Roof._  
_Now._

He gulped, feeling his heart pound in his chest. 

He'd really fucked up.

And he knew it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! I've been really busy with school and stuff. :c  
> I'm going to start updating more after this week.  
> Enjoy the new chapter! It was fun to write :D
> 
> ~Whiskers (=^owo^=)

Dave just stared at the note in horror. He fucked up. Well… Maybe he could just talk to Bro. He was reasonable, right? 

After everything the knight had been through this was  _ definitely  _ something he didn’t want to do.

Actually, he’d never wanted to do it in the first place. He was just kind of forced to. 

He let out a sigh. If it came to it, Dave could probably kick Bro’s ass now. The last strife he lost was 8 years ago after all. He carefully crumpled up the note and flipped through his captchalogue cards. 

Oh. Right. 

He still had everything from the game. 

Cool. 

He shrugged and started floating to the roof, taking his sweet ass time. I mean, he had all the time in the world. Literally. 

Meanwhile, Bro was patiently waiting on the roof. He was starting to have some second thoughts about this, mostly because he knew Dave could wreck him. He quickly pushed the thoughts away and grabbed his katana just as Dave slammed the door. 

“Bro, I don’t want to fight you.”

“Too bad.”

“Put the sword down,” Dave jumped back and held up caledfwlch when Bro lunged at him. “Bro, stop.” he emphasized the words by slamming his sword against his brother’s. The sound of a blade skittering across the roof was barely enough to pierce the silence hanging heavy in the air.

“I’m listening.” Bro finally said after a few moments. 

“I’m not fighting you. I hate fighting.”

Silence. 

“You do?”

“Yes! Maybe if you had bothered to get to know me you would fucking know this!”

“Da-”

“No, shut the fuck up. I’m done listening to you. Now buck up, get your sword, and get your ass back on the futon.”

“Ki-” Bro’s complaints were cut short by Dave pressing the tip of his sword against his throat. “‘Kay, see ya in a bit.”

“Good.” Dave didn’t say another word. He just walked away. 

Bro was in total shock. 

“What the fuck just happened?” he mumbled softly. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about sunset when Bro finally got up, grabbed his katana, and started descending the stairs. Dave was indeed waiting on the futon with his phone in his hand. He only looked up for a brief moment when the older Strider sat down. A minute later he put his phone away and looked at Bro.

“Am I just one of your problems? What the fuck did I ever do to you? Why did you change?”

“Change?”

“Yes. Change. When I turned seven you got me my first sword and that’s when you started disconnecting. You started chilling with me less and strifing with me more. By the time I was 10, if you weren’t beating the shit out of me, you were ignoring me. What the  _ hell _ did I do?” Dave was fighting back tears at this point. 

It was a while before Bro responded. 

“I just… Snapped.. I promise it wasn’t anything you did, Dave. And.. I’m really sorry if it seemed like that. I’ve just never been really good with uh… Emotions and feels and stuff.”

“Oh really? I never would have guessed.” Dave sighed and leaned against Bro, who tensed up almost immediately. He pressed a quick kiss to the elder’s shoulder. “Calm down, it’s just me.”

“I…. Okay.” Bro didn’t say anything. He just made a quiet noise, which prompted Dave to pull his arm up and curl into his side. “Why’re ya bein’ so cuddly?”

“I’ve always been cuddly, Bro.”

Bro finally forced himself to relax. “Hey, kid?”

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry. I’m gonna change. I promise. Just tell me what to do. We can fix this together.”

“Thanks. Let’s just start with a hug.” Dave mumbled, wrapping his arms around Bro who was quick to return the embrace. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo!! Finally, an update!!

The two Striders sat there on the futon, telling stories and watching stupid TV shows for what felt like only a few minutes, though in reality they'd been there for a number of hours. 

 

Dave quickly felt exhaustion hit him like a truck. He yawned and sat up, putting his arms above his head and stretching. "Nnnn.... I'ma sleep. See ya in the morning, Bro."

 

"Night, kid." Bro uttered the words absentmindedly. All his focus was on the episode of My Little Pony currently droning on the screen. A Canterlot Wedding. That was the episode. Dave rolled his eyes and got up. He went to his room and stripped down to his boxers, crawled into bed, and drifted off with a smile.

 

\---

 

A bright light and a blaring alarm clock was the lovely wake up call that got Dave's lazy ass out of bed. He showered quickly, brushed his teeth, got dressed, all that (though not in that order). He peeped over the back of the back of the futon as he walked to the door and sighed. Bro was still sleeping. He shrugged and grabbed his bag, then started walking to school.

 

When he got there, he was of course immediately bothered by Karkat. 

 

"DAVE, WITH MY UNBELIEVABLY OUTSTANDING COMPUTER SKILLS, I'VE MANAGED TO FIGURE OUT THE LOCATION OF A FEW OF THE GOD AWFUL TERRORSLUSHES OF SHIT WE CALL OUR FRIENDS." Karkat yelled at the top of his lungs. A few people looked at them and Dave shook his head before responding.

 

"Oh? Which ones?" This was good news! Hopefully they'd be close.

 

"SOLLUX, KANAYA, GAMZEE, AND ERIDAN."

 

"Where are they?"

 

"SOLLUX IS HERE, KANAYA IS IN NEW YORK CITY, GAMZEE IS IN COMPTON, AND ERIDAN IS IN CHICAGO." Oh. Well at least  _someone_ was here. 

 

"Does he go here? Sollux I mean."

 

"NO, HE DOESN'T NEED SCHOOL, DIPSHIT."

 

"Wanna go find him?"

 

"OF COURSE. COME ON." With that, he started following Karkat away from the building, shoving his hands in his pockets and sighing. Today was gonna be... Interesting to say the least.


End file.
